INAUGURATION OF COUNSELLING COMMITTEE FOR WA CENTRAL PRISON

WELCOME ADDRESS BY THE REGIONAL COMMANDER, ACP R.K AWOLUGUTU DURING THE INAUGURATION OF THE COUNSELING COMMITTEE ON MONDAY 10TH MARCH 2014 AT THE PRISONS CANTEEN.

Mr. Chairman, Honorable Municipal Chief Executive, Service Commanders, Distinguished invited Guests, Fellow Officers, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a pleasure and singular honor for me to give the welcome address on this important occasion.I am particularly happy today because our dream of constituting this all important committee has seen the light of day and I am thankful to the Almighty God for His divine providence.

Mr. Chairman, prison environment is a stressful one in the sense that close confinement, lack of choice, anxiety and fear often create stress for prison inmates. Besides, correctional facility conditions, particularly inmates overcrowding can increase psychological stress, inmate illness and mortality.

Prisoners are often over burdened with the thought of job loss, accommodation loss and the prevailing conditions of their families. Some even harbor the thought of losing their marriages and loved ones during the period of incarceration, not forgetting the canker of stigmatization and rejection after discharge. All these factors pose perceived threat to the important goals and well-being of inmates. There is therefore the need for some coping skills which can be offered through psychotherapy or psycho social counseling to enable the inmate to manage, if not completely overcome, stress and its associated conditions and have hope for the future.

Mr. Chairman, the relevance of this committee cannot be under estimated. Its services will greatly be beneficial to both inmates and officers.

It is an undeniable fact that some of the inmates have become victim of circumstances beyond their control. Some are also innocent of the offences they have been accused of. Others have been framed up leading to their incarceration. Better still, some found themselves in jail because of lack of financial resources to hire the services of a legal counsel to defend them in court. As a result, these categories of inmates became so embittered with their situation to the extent that, some of them consider suicide as the only remedy to their predicament. Others vow to avenge people who may have caused their detention. Counseling is the only means by which inmates can come out of these conditions.

Mr. Chairman, inmates with drug and sexual related offences will be given coping skills to surmount these problems. Those inmates who are highly depressed will benefit from the services of the committee likewise those serving long sentences.

As a matter of fact, counseling enables inmates to see the potentials in them and tap it to better their lives.

Through counseling, inmates would take opportunity of the various capacity building programs we have for them such as trade skills training and musical talents not forgetting religious instructions.

Mr. Chairman, the work of a prisons officer is actually difficult and challenging. The services of the committee will be extended to officers. At times when certain critical incidents occur in the prison, for example, death of a prisoner, officers on duty do go through stressful conditions such as taking the body to the morgue, answering questions and writing reports. They need individual or group counseling to be able to cope with these situations.

Certain predicaments like financial and marital problems can have adverse effect on the performance and work output of officers. They apparently need coping skills to overcome such challenges and move on with life. Furthermore, officers with drug addiction problems like alcoholism and substance abuse will receive counseling in order to ensure that they eschew those negative tendencies and make life meaningful for themselves and their dependants.

Mr. Chairman, another important area I would like the committee to focus attention on is assisting officers who have difficulty choosing their life partner to make good decisions or an informed choice.

We have a situation where some officers give up their dreams in terms of career or success journey. I wish that the committee would help such people to see the potentials in themselves for advancement in life.

Finally, lack of confidence in one self and low self image can affect one's work. It is the duty of the committee to identify such people and give them psycho social counseling in order to inculcate in them self confidence to ensure that they have a better outlook of themselves.

Mr. Chairman, taking into accounts the pedigree and the experience of the personalities on this committee, I have no doubt that they will deliver on their mandate. I wish to use this platform to congratulate them on their inauguration and also wish them well. On this note I welcome you all and enjoy the rest of the program.

Abundant Robert K. AWOLUGUTU
ASST. CONT. OF PRISONS/AG. REGIONAL COMMANDER
WA CENTRAL PRISON.